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LONDON – Before 49ers defensive line coach Jim Tomsula was one of the NFL’s most respected assistants, he was an entrance-mat salesman working on straight commission who wasn’t being paid a penny to do what he loved: coach at Division II Catawba College in Salisbury, N.C., as an assistant.

It wasn’t the best of times for Tomsula, then a 29-year-old husband and father of two young daughters, and matters only figured get worse. The entrance-mat company was about to go under so he began calling Kmarts, where he hoped to land contracts buffing their floors after closing time.

Instead, someone called Tomsula. And his career in professional football was improbably launched.

The call came from Lionel Taylor, a former NFL wide receiver who was the head coach of the England Monarchs in NFL Europe. Taylor’s question: Did Tomsula want to coach his defensive line in London? Tomsula’s response: Get the heck out of here.

“I really thought he was messing around with me,” Tomsula said. “I really thought it was some type of gag … Well, it turns out he wasn’t messing around.”

This week, Tomsula, 45, is back in the country where it all started in 1998, preparing for the 49ers’ meeting on Sunday against the Jaguars at Wembley Stadium in London. Taylor’s call launched Tomsula’s nine-year career in NFL Europe. After one season in London, he went to Edinburgh, Scotland (Scottish Claymores), Berlin (the Thunder) and finished in Dusseldorf, Germany, where, at 38, he became the league’s youngest head coach when he led the Rhein Fire in 2006.

He’s now the 49ers’ longest-tenured assistant, the only coach on staff to work for Mike Nolan, Mike Singletary and Jim Harbaugh. On Wednesday, Harbaugh said his decision to keep Tomsula around was a no-brainer when he arrived in 2011.

““It was a very easy decision after speaking with him,” Harbaugh said. “He’s had a special gift of presence, personality, of teaching ability and that came shining through. I remember that first meeting. And that’s one position I’ve just never had to worry about since I’ve been here as the head coach.”

Tomsula may have received his big break in 1998, but that didn’t translate into big bucks.

He and his wife, Julie, didn’t have $200 in their bank account when they moved the family to Croydon, in south London, and took up residence in a hotel room with a king bed and a pull-out couch for their daughters.

Tomsula was the head coach of the Rhein Fire in 2006.

“You’d put a towel on the floor,” Tomsula said. “Then you get the cheeses and the bread and put it on the things. And then you sit around and have a picnic in the room. Honest to God, that’s the way it was.”

Tomsula, who constantly credits Julie for her unwavering support, didn’t mind the paycheck-to-paycheck existence. He was so passionate about coaching he would have worked for free, which he’d recently proved at Catawba.

Fifteen years later, Tomsula’s zeal for his job apparently hasn’t waned. Last week, he was posed with a significant challenge when rookie nose tackle Quinton Dial, who had been sidelined since undergoing toe surgery in January, was promoted to the 53-man roster. Then, after just three NFL practices, the fifth-round pick debuted in 31-17 win over the Titans on Sunday and played seven snaps.

The race to get the rookie ready required intense instruction. And Tomsula was thrilled.

Not surprisingly, Tomsula was similarly stoked to begin tutoring one of the biggest projects in recent NFL history: defensive lineman Lawrence Okoye.

Okoye, the British record holder in the discus, had never played football until this spring, but his eye-popping size and athleticism inspired interest from several teams willing to sign the neophyte. Why the 49ers?

“Jim was the complete, 100 percent, the reason I chose to come here,” said Okoye, who is on injured reserve and won’t play this season. “He instilled so much faith in me and he’s proven over the last few months that he’s committed to making me better. When I saw him, I met him, he made that clear to me in a way that other coaches and other personnel people hadn’t. And I’m 100 percent committed to Jim and I’m going to make sure that I prove him right.”

The self-deprecating Tomsula deflects such praise. He’s famously fond of referring to himself as “Jim Nobody From Nowhere.”

But Tomsula and his family, which now includes a son, have been everywhere: from the Vatican, to the Mediterranean, to the Super Bowl.

It all started with that phone call from out of nowhere. Tomsula still doesn’t know who offered his name to Taylor, who has kept the matter a secret. Left to guess, Tomsula has an idea who was working on his behalf.